Reluctant Optimist EP 6: If You Give a Monster a Cookie... Good People Have to Make Good People Win

Episode six is about the uncomfortable truth that people don’t always reward goodness; they often reward volume, chaos, and whoever complains the loudest. I talk through the way good people accidentally enable bad behavior, not because they’re weak, but because they keep trying to be decent in systems that exploit decency. This one is about cookies, expectations, narcissists, apologies, pain, and the brutal little realization that if we want good people to win, we actually have to stop rewarding the people making everything worse. Reluctantly optimistic, because the way out is still there: stop feeding the monster, protect your energy, and choose who actually deserves your good.